now we're tracking moderate freezing rain, major icing possible overnight, what that means for your morning commute. >> taking on the weather on the field, in the air, we're keep average eye on air travel tonight into tomorrow morning. i'll tell you something, folks. it ain't looking pretty. >> and on the streets. >> reporter: it is already

beginning to get icy on area roadways and when that happens, this happens. we'll give you a heads up on the potential problem spots from now through your morning commute. >> hello. i'm bruce johnson. ice is forming on area roads and sidewalks. your morning commute could be slippery. fairfax, loudoun and prince william county schools all closed tomorrow, d.c. public schools announcing they're on a two hour delay. the complete list is at the bottom of your screen throughout the broadcast. first alert chief meteorologist topper shutt begins our team coverage tonight. >> the snow is really the pretty part and the benign part of the storm. we're real estate concerned overnight of major icing. -- we're really concerned overnight of major icing, winter weather advisories are south into southern maryland. here's phase 3, the next slug of moisture. we're talking about a lot of moisture now for the next possibly 12 hours. so some heavy freezing rain is

possible overnight. we've had reports from manassas of thunder and lightning. the atmosphere is very dynamic. so we are getting reports of sleet mixed in with freezing rain and quite frankly, the sleet would be a silver lining because that will not accumulate on the trees and power lines. it will interfere with the roads more so than freezing rain, but of the two evils sleet is the lesser of the two. up to 33 downtown, but still 30 in gaithersburg, leesburg and in manassas and upper 20s out to the north and west. so morning commute, icy north and west of town. the district will be above 32 by 7:00. frederick, maryland, may take until 10:00 to get above freezing and leesburg. we'll come back and talk about how i've already lowered temperatures for tomorrow and increased the snow chances tuesday and how much ice could accumulate overnight. here's something that will be very helpful to you

beginning tomorrow morning, our wusa9 news app to help you stay on top of the breaking news, weather and traffic for the washington area and your own neighborhood. you want to make sure you have the wusa9 i add app. click on the traffic tab. zoom -- ipad app. click on the traffic tab and zoom into the roadways that you're most concerned about. it will keep you informed on all the accidents in the entire washington area, school closings and weather alerts. so download it tonight, the wusa9 ipad app for realtime traffic accidents and construction alerts, even microconditions on the street and beyond near your home. our team coverage continues near montgomery county where all southbound lanes on i-270 are blocked at route 27 and father hurley boulevard due to a . >> reporter: we have already

seen some pretty dicey situations. >> roads are going to be bad tonight. there's no doubt. >> reporter: they already have, cars in ditches, fender byrnes and serious highway crashes like -- benders and serious highway crashes like this tractor trailer that rolled and shut down highway 270 in montgomery county. officials say they still fear people are drive doing fast for conditions. that's enough to keep shawn ghast off the roads. he'd rather walk. >> it's still safer than driving because of other people's driving, not mine. you have to watch out for everybody else. >> reporter: things are likely going to get worse around montgomery county in the overnight hours and for the morning commute. >> that's going to be a crazy drive. hopefully we'll come home. >> reporter: highway overpasses, bridges and ramps are the first places to become problems and freeze over. officials stress to be cautious and patient. it only takes a small patch of ice for things to go wrong in a hurry.

from the street to the air we continue to keep tabs on travel tonight for you, both national and dulles reporting massive delays and cancellations due to the weather. ken molestina is live at dulles tonight. >> reporter: things are finally quieting down here at dulles international airport and that's because all the passengers are gone, all the stranded passengers finding a place to go tonight. you don't have to be a mathematician to add all this up. a day longworth of cancellations and delays always equals an airport packed with headaches. if the snow and arcticlike conditions on the tarmacs and runways aren't dead give-aways, you can always check the boards. cancellations and delays are plentiful. shawn thacker is one of the countless stranded passengers. he's been traveling all day from palm springs, california, en route to georgia and somehow was detoured to dulles and got

stuck here for the night. >> i went from uso here. i'll show them my military id. they've got beds, tvs, snacks of. >> reporter: others are finishing up their travels on the icy roads. this man's flight to york, pennsylvania, also canceled. >> we got my stepmom on the way down to pick us up here of. >> reporter: the cancellations and delays spilled into massive lines for travelers looking for a cab. >> never seen it like this. >> reporter: there's nothing anyone can do about mother nature's course of actions, even this weary and frustrated passenger knowing that offers a key piece of advice. >> as long as you can keep laughing, it's all good. >> reporter: we'll see how many people are laughing tomorrow. you got to understand something here. all the flights that were delayed and canceled tonight are back on schedule for tomorrow. that is, of course, if the weather permits. if we have another day like today tomorrow, then you can just imagine how compacted all the delays and cancellations will be. united airlines seem to be the one airline that had the most

cancellations. most of those flights were either regional or domestic. we do understand that international flights were able to get out of here at dulles international airport tonight, but we'll be keeping a close eye on this tomorrow early in the morning as you mentioned and throughout the day for you folks traveling. the best piece of advice we have is to keep in close contact with your airline. look at those airline apps and make sure that you're up to date with the very latest on your flight scheduling. we are live at dulles international airport, ken molestina, wusa9. >> good information, ken. fairfax, loudoun and prince william county schools again and many districts to the west are all closed tomorrow, d.c. public schools on a two hour delay. as new school closings come in, we're putting them at the bottom of the screen. many schools typically alert us between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., but federal and local governments have not reported in about closings or delays. the federal government could declare liberal leave tonight.

we're starting wusa9 news with andrea roane and mike hydek a half hour early monday morning, so a 4 a.m. start tomorrow for updates, closings, delays and morning commute road conditions. you saw the burgundy and gold today take a 45-10 beatdown from the kansas city chiefs. tonight everybody is asking how long are the shanahans going to be around? >> that is the big question. according to multiple reports out tonight, owner dan snyder, gm bruce allen stayed behind at fedex field a few hours later than every 1 else this evening, most expecting mike -- everyone else this evening, most expecting mike shanahan to be fired. the question is when? tonight or tomorrow, the end of the season? we'll have to wait and see, but after today's debacle at the snow something needs to change at the top and this team needs more talent on the field, an overall change. i understand the weather was bad and footing wasn't ideal, but when you look back at the game, that didn't seem to bother the kansas city chiefs

one bit. they were dead set on stopping a three game losing streak. the redskins looked like they really wanted no part of the weather elements or competing. kansas city threaded washington especially on special teams nearly 300 yards on kick returns. the redskins had no answer for dexter mccluster who accounted for 177 return yards and the tackling efforts were just bad. the frustration is getting to the team and any glimmer of hope is quickly disappearing. >> we can't keep going out there and not getting it right and then come up here and say hey, we got to get it right. i know it gets old, but something has to change and we need to get it right. >> they [ bleep ] us man and it was embarrassing. can't say nothing about the performance because we stunk, but all we can do is keep working, got to go to work next week. >> we didn't play well. we got to more so just step up

and make plays, you know. i was just upset, wasn't nobody to blame, just got everybody got to be accountable, got to make plays. >> we come out here and lose and especially all the time we put in, kind of seem like the effort is in vain, just can't find a way to get a win. >> the frustration pretty obvious. we'll hear from mike shanahan tonight on game on overtime and his reaction to one of the reports that was out today saying that he almost quit last year. so time will tell what's going to happen. >> what i'm hearing is rg3 saying something has to change. >> he even said something about being frustrated of holding it all back. you're asked the same questions oh and over. the team seems to -- over and over. the team seems to be getting worse and worse. you didn't commit a courtroom and you're not a spy -- a crime and you're not a spy, then why do local telephone agencies want to track your data? that's right, it's not

estimate in south africa today a national -- in south africa today a day of mourning as nelson mandela was remembered in church

services across the country. at one service south african president jacob zuma said the country must not forget the values that mandela leaves behind. >> when i say we pray for the nation, it's that we pray for us not to forget some of the values that madiba stood for, that he fought for, that he sacrificed his life for. >> president and mrs. obama along with former president bill clinton, george w. bush and jimmy carter will attend a memorial service for nelson mandela on tuesday. the outside demonstrations that eventually help bring down the apartheid government in south africa actually began here in washington. one of the organizers was randall robinson, founder of transafrica. here's what he told cbs veteran correspondent bob schieffer today. >> when we went to the embassy and met with ambassador foray, we told him we wouldn't leave until nelson mandela had been

released from prison. at the time few americans knew much about nelson mandela and we thought we had to build a big public story, more information in america that would inform americans about the role that our country had been playing. the ambassador had us arrested and that was followed by 5,000 americans who came to the embassy over the next year every day to be arrested. >> robinson now lives in st. kidd. he's the younger brother of the late max robinson, former news anchor here at channel 9. wusa9 will cover a week of tributes to nelson mandela both here and in south africa. >> reporter: i'm derek mcginty along with wusa9 photographer kevin king. we're checking in here at dulles international airport headed to johannesburg south africa to bring you a series of reports leading up to the funeral of mandela, madiba, the

heart of south africa. we'll see you there. >> you can watch their report starting tuesday right here on wusa9 and www.wusa9.com. well, you've heard about the nsa spying on americans, but tonight we're learning how the federal government is not the only one spying on your cell phone. local police across the country are doing it, also, even when you're not a suspect. wusa9 investigative reporter russ ptacek worked with usa today and other reporters from our parent company gannett and here's what they found. >> reporter: when you text or talk, even when it's in your purse or pocket, your cell phone is repeated by sending its serial number to nearby cell phone towers. the info gives police your trail without your knowledge. >> this entire phenomenon is shrouded in secrecy. >> reporter: an investigation by wusa9, usa today and our sister gannett tv station reveals the feds and at least 25 local police agencies use a

method called tower dumps. sometimes without a warrant cops look for a criminal getting phone companies to dutch thousands of records from towers -- dump thousands of records from towers near crime scenes. >> the vast majority of people are innocent of any crime and will never be told their information was requested and ended up in a government database of. >> reporter: in colorado when 10-year-old jessica ridgeway vanished, police got thousands of cell phone records through tower dumps. the killer ironically used a cell phone to give up. >> i murdered jessica ridgeway. >> we would be derelict in our duty if we didn't. >> reporter: when this sheriff leon lott had his gun stolen, he used tower dumps to catch the burglar. >> when they use that telephone, they understand that information is going to a tower. we're not taking that information and using it for any means whatsoever unless they are the bad guy. >> reporter: but if you're not the bad guy, laws don't outline what should be done with your records. >> we have no ability to really

know what the government is doing and that's very problematic. >> reporter: when there's not a cell phone tower nearby, police can simply mimic their own with this device called a stingray. stingray fools your phone into thinking it's a real tower. thousands of records belonging to innocent people could be collected without a warrant. >> a number of cases they've used these devices to triangulate people within a room, so it's very very accurate within several feet. >> reporter: the electronic privacy and information center found stingray is only used without the public's knowledge. >> you could imagine a device like this being used to gather the identities of all individuals at a rally. >> reporter: it's a balance between public safety and right to privacy with no clear signal from the law and the fbi and police refuse to talk about it saying it would hurt their investigations. working with usa today and our sister television stations across the country we asked 125 police departments whether

they're using the stingray technology. many didn't respond at all, but we were still able to determine at least 25 are using it including three in the washington area. to read more about it see tomorrow's usa today and to learn which local police departments in the washington area are using this see our investigation tomorrow night at 11:00 on wusa9. i'm investigative reporter russ ptacek, wusa9. five extraordinary artists are being honored tonight as part of the 36th annual kennedy center honors. actress shirley mcclain, opera singer martina arollya and musician carlos santana recognized for their contributions to the arts. >> i'd like to give voice to the invisible ones still in this nation. there's a lot of people who we don't give voice. i represent them.

so it's fun to represent them. >> my feet have not touched the ground since i've been here. >> the honors will be broadcast december 29th here on wusa9. some of you might have heard thunder in your neighborhood. topper is tracking the storm. topper is tracking the storm. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress, the fcc, and the administration free up... more licensed wireless spectrum, we can empower more... people to innovate, create new technologies and jobs... and strengthen the economy. america is the world's leader in wireless. let's keep it that way. free up licensed spectrum today, so wireless... can do more for america tomorrow.

all of the crews out there are working trying to keep those primary roads open. those secondary roads are slippery and don't forget the sidewalks, very dangerous tonight. >> walking around, it sounds common sense, but people fall all the time when they try to get to their car tomorrow and you're right, secondary roads are bad, but i'm more concerned about downed power lines and trees overnight with the heavy freezing rain. let's start with the headlines. this is the story, phase three if you will and we're looking at pretty serious icing. 27 to 31 overnight north and west of town. major icing is possible overnight north and west. you won't believe how much is possible. the morning commute icy north and west, montgomery county and fairfax county, of course, up to frederick and out to loudon. morning commute is just wet south of d.c. and east of i-95.

allow extra time. here's our next slug of moisture and look at it, just a conveyor belt. there's a ton of moisture back into alabama and north georgia. this will roll through the metro area all night and most of tomorrow morning. you can see how it ran into the colder air and has now turned to a mix. yes, you are not hearing things. that is lightning and thunder. that's just how dynamic the atmosphere is. the vertical motion is very strong. we'll see a little sleet overnight but mostly freezing rain. if you see sleet, count your blessings because that won't stick on the power lines. here's the latest image, a mixture up 270, a ton of freezing rain and sleet back out toward 66 and even into prince george's county. you were under a winter storm warning. let's start with a live look outside, our live michael and son weather cam, a night not fit for man or beast, 33 at the airport, dew point still 29 which means temperatures could go down a bit even inside the

beltway tonight. 30 in rockville, 31 germantown, 29 in ashburn and 30 at dulles. look at lovettsville, 27, northern loudoun county and frederick county could see massive icing overnight. that couldl power lines and trees. the morning commute north and west icy, the district probably making it around 32, 33 now, probably right around 32 at 7:00, but frederick and maryland probably take it till 10:00 to get above 32 and i think leesburg and ashburn probably around 10:00 also to get above 32 degrees, which is critical. look at the ice. i think this model is overdone. take it with agrainofsalt, ag agrainofsalt,anywherefrom.2to.4 ibly--a grain of salt, anywhere from .2 to .4-inch of icing.

overnight plain rain south and east of town and in the district by 7:00, 8:00, should be above freezing, temperatures by 1:00 about 40 degrees. then we had to add we kept this as a red alert tomorrow. howard will scale it back as he deems it necessary. yellow alert on tuesday, snow looking more likely, 36 and cold wednesday, only about 34. next seven days it stays cold and we're talking mid-30s. next weekend temps warm up a little bit but perhaps another cold rain getting into sunday. that may be optimistic as well, but right now we'll say rain and 45. i'm on the weather terrace now, just having rain which is freezing. so it falls liquid and freezes on contact and you can see right there this is causing ice here in northwest. if you are well north and west of town, you're in a world of hurt overnight. the fallout from the redskins blowout loss today, a quick look

now game on with kristen berset live from the wusa9 cadillac sports desk. >> it was a snowy cold nasty day around the dmv as we're all aware, but the weather is not to blame for the washington redskins poor performance this afternoon. look at their performance, the kansas city chiefs had no problem with the snow determined to end their three- game skid and that's what they did. the redskins defense couldn't pick up a single sack while the chiefs recorded six. the redskins offense had one scoring drive. the chiefs special teams ran all over the redskins. the chiefs took a 28-point lead into halftime. fans had had enough. the stadium was practically

empty which definitely doesn't make dan snyder happy and definitely adds to the plers' frustration. >> that's my brothers in the trenches. that's the main reason i'm fighting, but it's so much more that we're fighting for. if you want to know why everybody else feels, i only know how i feel and my thought process is to continue to just fight. >> up the road the snow caused a low scoring game for most of the ravens/vikings showdown, but all you really needed to watch was the final two minutes and five seconds. five touchdowns were scored in that time frame, the ravens refusing to go down at home that, excitement coming up in game on overtime. an accident on the hardwood tonight, the maryland terrapins looking to rebound after their blowout loss to ohio state in the big 10 acc challenge taking on george washington, a surprising program in the bb and c classic, but gw off to one of their best starts, that game, plus how the other local schools fared coming up.

and the capitals in action in new york, phil brubrower getting the start and the breakdown of the redskins and what this franchise does going forward. i want to point out d.c. government on a two hour delay tomorrow morning. something has happened with this franchise. what's the point playing the next three games? >> they're professionals. they've got people playing for jobs, got to be pros about it. >> start at 4 a.m.

coming up next the redskins suffer through another stormy sunday on the field. >> none of us played good today. i didn't play well. >> we didn't tackle well. we didn't do well on defense, special teams and offense. >> now the men in charge are being questioned. >> talking about some of the things that floated around this morning. it's not the right time or place to talk about my relationship